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The Calgary Flames were challenged with a tough Western Conference foe last night as they took on the San Jose Sharks.
Despite dropping their 4th straight game, the Flames played quite well last night against a much stronger Sharks roster. As the title of the blog suggests, I felt that Calgary actually played a little better than did San Jose, and further, that they were ultimately beat by a few unlucky bounces.
"We're disappointed in the loss, but you can't fault the effort," forward Matt Stajan said. "We had our chances. If we continue to work like that we'll give ourselves a chance no doubt about it."
The first period would see two goals from each team, and it would be Jiri Hudler of the Flames to open the scoring. Receiving a pass from TJ Brodie in the corner, Hudler would squeeze by defenseman Brad Stuart, pull the puck in close, and send a nicely timed backhand shot past Antti Niemi for his 13th goal and 40th point of the season.
Not long after, the Sharks would respond with a goal of their own when Joe Pavelski would tip a shot on net by Justin Braun which would find the back of the net. The shot itself didn’t have a whole lot of strength behind it but caught the edge of Pavelski’s blade and trickled in the net. All things considered, I had no issues with the first goal as all players were playing their systemic positions correctly, save for maybe Giordano who could have tied up Pavelski’s stick a little better.
Moving ahead to their second goal of the night, the Sharks got a lucky bounce after a shot by Tommy Wingels made contact with Ramo’s blocker, but was pulled into the net by the Flames netminder. The shot which came from the side wall just outside the faceoff circle would make direct contact with Ramo, and despite making the initial save, he would knock the puck into his own net. Sharks take a 2-1 lead.
"It's fun to watch," teammate Tommy Wingels said. "They go in a whole different variety of ways as you saw tonight. When you're hot, you're hot. He'll certainly take it and as a team we'll take it as well."
Less than one minute later, Calgary enforcer Kevin Westgarth would put away his first goal of the year and tie up the game. Crashing the net hard, Westgarth would scoop up a rebound from a shot by the Flames other enforcer Brian McGrattan, and find the top of the find. Almost makes you wonder if Hartley was in fact starting the two during the Canucks game because of their scoring touches…just maybe.
On that note, the NHL came to a decision with respect to the coaching decisions made on Saturday night between the Flames and Canucks. John Tortorella was suspended from his team for 15 days, while Bob Hartley was fined $25,000. It seems the reasoning for Tortorella’s suspension over a fine was likely due to his track record, in that he’s been fined before and they wanted to make a bigger point this time. While I did comment that I found the game quite enjoyable, I will maintain that the between period stuff from coaches is simply unacceptable.
Moving back to the game action, the Flames would once again allow a goal off a “bad bounce…, if you will. Offside by a stride or two, Patrick Marleau would sneak into the zone with Pavelski who tipped in his 2nd goal of the game off a shot from Joe Thornton. Offside or not, the goal itself was not one which I would fault Ramo for. It was just a bad break by the Flames where Giordano tried to clear the puck, Backlund missed a chance himself, and Pavelski was left all alone in front.
That final goal would seal the game as neither team were able to score in the final 20 minutes. I was impressed again with Backlund’s play as the forward is not only scoring goals of late, but he’s also blocking shots and playing a strong defensive game. The game itself was not an overly fast paced game, but the Flames were able to keep to a simply defensive system and keep the game quite close. Karri Ramo made 24 saves for the night and played very well. The game could very well have been 4/5-2 had it not been for a few key saves by the tender.
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I decided to include a slightly different version of a Mailbag type Q&A today as I have not posted one in a while. Rather than posting a few questions posed to me and providing my answer, I thought it would be interesting to let one of you answer a question which I submitted instead!
Our first aspirant to step up to the plate is our well-loved, The-O-G (for those who participate in the comments threads). The question I challenged OG with was his thoughts on Mike Cammalleri, or more specifically where he could end up.
Here is his answer!
The O-G's Top 3 Trade Destinations for Cammalleri:
#3 DETROIT RED WINGS
It's no secret that the Detroit Red Wings have had some trouble scoring goals of late. Sure they have had their fair share of injury problems, but they certainly aren't what they used to be. The Eastern Conference is very much up in the air, and I feel like Detroit believes they might be a piece or 2 away from being able to do some damage come spring time. I think they will be in the market to add a veteran scorer like Cammalleri, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they did.
Prospect the Flames should target from Detroit: Tomas Jurco
#2 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
You know the Penguins are always looking to beef up come play-off time, so why would this year be any different? Luckily for the Pens, they have one of the deepest prospect pools in the league, which allows them to continually bring in players to make a push for the cup. A tough injury to Pascal Dupuis earlier in the year has caused a hole on the wing alongside Crosby and God (Kunitz), so wouldn't Cammalleri be a perfect fit? Combined with the hard work of Kunitz and the playmaking abilities of Crosby, Cammalleri's pure sniping ability could be deadly in Pittsburgh.
Prospect's the Flames should target from Pittsburgh: Derrick Pouliot or Simon Despres
#1 LA KINGS
Could there be a reunion between Dean Lombardi and Cammalleri in LA? Some have suggested there may be some animosity between the two, but I would be willing to bet they would shove their ego's aside to make a run for Lord Stanley. The Western Conference is extremely competitive and, like the Red Wings, the Kings also struggle to score at times. With high-flying teams such as Anaheim, Chicago, San Jose and St. Louis out West, the Kings will need to find some goals in order to help keep up. Darryl Sutter's familiarity with Cammalleri could also come into play here, as he knows first-hand how gifted he is a putting the puck in the net.
Prospect's the Flames should target from LA: Tyler Toffoli or Tanner Pearson
Please note I'm not saying that Cammalleri's value is less, equal to, or above any of these prospects. These are merely the prospect's I would like to see the Flames target from these respective teams in some sort of package/combination. I also think Calgary should step up and retain as much of Cammalleri's salary as possible in order to maximize their potential return.
Nice discussion OG! We have certainly discussed a lot of the above over the past few weeks, and I am sure we will continue to do so as we draw near to the trade deadline day. If anyone else would like to either have their question(s) answered or take part in this new form of Q&A, please let me know via PM or Twitter!
The Flames will play next against the Phoenix Coyotes tomorrow night at home.
Thanks for reading!